ceb@csli.stanford.edu (Charles Buckley) (03/15/90)
It seems a bit sad, that the Bell name is now being put on inferior merchandise, but that seems to be the case. This refers to a phone I recently bought. It carries the modernized bell-in-a-circle logo at the top, and the words "BELL(tm) Phones" in big letters, followed by (in smaller letters) "by Northwestern Bell Phones". The model number is Techline 2702S, and a quick check of the back indicates the set was made in Korea. The problem is something very simple, that even the old faithful 500 or 2500 sets didn't have: if you set the receiver down on a flat hard surface (like a desktop) with the mouthpiece and earpiece down, you generate a feedback squeal, which is disturbing to the party on the other end, to say the least. I have seen this happen on two sets of the same model, so I know it's a design defect, and not a manufacturing one. This was confirmed by the manufacturing rep - see below. Having noticed the problem, I tried several different handsets of the same style made by other companies (made in Hong Kong, Taiwan, etc. - sigh), and none of them had this problem. Northwestern Bell Phones provides an 800 number for service problems, which I called using their product. I demonstrated the problem in real-time, and the rep replied: "Oh yes, that's a problem with all the Techline phones [there are 4 models], but you know, you're going to get that with any phone made." I told her it was not true, and promptly switched to a handset made by another company and demonstrated my point. I told her I would not be put off so easily. I also allowed as noise cancelling was not a new innovation, and was even cheap to implement, and there was no excuse for not doing so. At this point, she asked me to hold while she consulted a technician. I waited, and she came back and said "Well, I just talked to our technician, and he said the same thing I said. You're welcome to send it in for service, but we're not going to find anything wrong with it." I allowed as this was unacceptable, and stated I wanted my money back. At this point she stated flat out "We do not give refunds.", and she repeated this several times as I tried to reason with her. I finally gave up. The case is so clearcut, and the matter so badly handled, that I feel I must resort to a posting here. If anyone from Northwestern Bell reads this list, I would suggest you do something about your marketing organization - poor-quality products and insolent, intimidating, lying service reps won't get you very far. The Bell name took years to develop a good reputation, and it seems that this capital is being squandered by those who now use it. Maybe some of the other firms earning money off the Bell logo might want to have a word with Northwestern Bell Phones as well, in their own interest.
Brad Isley <bgi@salestech.com> (03/19/90)
In article <5144@accuvax.nwu.edu> you write: X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 171, Message 4 of 9 >It seems a bit sad, that the Bell name is now being put on inferior >merchandise, but that seems to be the case. This is no news to me. My wife works for Southern Bell. They had a "special" offer for employees several years back for som phones made by "Bell". She bought a cordless phone through this offer for a huge discount. Later we discovered why the discount was so large. The batteries would typically last about 10 minutes. Nice touch (brand new). At most any time, though it only happened when we were asleep, it would emit an ear-piercing squeal that would wake us up from the other side of the house. After tiring of this we called to try and get it fixed. We were informed that since we got it through the "special" we had no warranty and it would cost $90 to send it in for repair. That was about $30 less than the phone cost to start with. We tossed it at that point. In case you're interested, it was the "Freedom Phone" - I forget the specific manufacturer, but it was not AT&T or Southern Bell. No more "Bell" phones for us - we are QUITE pleased with all 4 of out AT&T phones. Brad Isley, yer local tools blacksmith. What, me worry ?